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Haley Barbour's growing influence

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

A self-described "fat redneck" is the most influential Republican in the country in our latest Friday Line.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is that rare combination of effective politician and savvy strategist, popular in his home state and revered among the cadre of political operatives who comprise the Republican permanent political class in Washington.

Asked whether Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was held to a higher standard because he is African American, Barbour dodged that potential bit of political quicksand by turning the question inward -- noting that his background and his "drawl" had gotten him used to being held to different standards.

Barbour will be at it again later today when he takes the stage at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference -- one of a panoply of candidates looking at the possibility of running for president in 2012 appearing at the event. (Barbour downplays his interest publicly but we hear he is more seriously considering the idea.)

Barbour is a first among equals when it comes to influence within the party today. That doesn't mean he can or will be the party's nominee in 2012 -- the whole lobbyist thing is a tough hurdle to overcome -- but it does mean that when he speaks, people in the party listen.

Our full Line of the most influential politicians within the GOP is below. Agree? Disagree? The comments section awaits.

To the Line!

10. Newt Gingrich: Gingrich is actively considering a run for president and has said that he will make up his mind by February 2011. While it's beyond debate that Gingrich is one of the brightest and best "ideas men" in the party, will Republican voters really rally behind a candidate who makes Camus references?(Previous ranking: 8)

9. Scott Brown: The man from Massachusetts has taken on a bit of a lower profile of late as he gets acclimated to the Senate and plots how to smartly capitalize on the huge amounts of political capital he possesses at the moment. Brown will be the most sought-after Republican surrogate on the campaign trail this fall, a nice play to be. The question is what he does for a second act. Brown could do everything right and still lose his re-election bid in 2012 in Democratic-leaning Massachusetts. Knowing that, does he take some sort of shot at national office between now and then? (Previous ranking: 6)

8. John Thune: With the South Dakota filing deadline now passed and no serious Democratic opponent in the field, expect Thune to begin to broaden out his national profile as he mulls the possibility of a run for president. Thune is the "buzz" candidate of the moment and has to move to capitalize on that excitement within the political chattering class before it jumps to the next new thing. (Previous ranking: 10)

6. Marco Rubio: The Florida Republican Senate primary isn't until late August but the speculation about whether Rubio, the former speaker of the state House, will run for president has already begun in earnest. (Politico's Ben Smith and Politics Daily's Matt Lewis make the case.) It's clear that Rubio's star is ascendant nationally -- $3.6 million raised in just 90 days! -- but caution about rising too fast is also warranted. See Allen, George circa 2006. (Previous ranking: 7)

5. Tim Pawlenty: Movement doesn't equal momentum but Pawlenty, the governor of Minnesota, seems to be everywhere these days -- traveling to New Hampshire and Iowa (and Asia), and generally putting the pieces in place to be a serious candidate in 2012. At the moment, Tpaw resembles no one as much as former Gov. Mitt Romney at this time in the 2008 presidential race -- a candidate who, on paper, is doing everything right but remains unproven on the stump. (Previous ranking: 4)

4. John Cornyn/Pete Sessions: As the 2010 midterms draw ever closer -- thrilled! -- Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Sessions, the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, become more and more important players in the party. With a national playing field that looks to favor Republicans and history on their side, Cornyn and Sessions should pick up seats. Managing expectations and messages will be the task of the next few months but both men have to feel good about where they sit today. (Previous rankings: Cornyn 5, Sessions N/A)

3. Sarah Palin: There simply is no bigger figure in the Republican party than Palin. Where she goes, crowds and enthusiasm follow. But, there is a difference between enthusiasm and influence. And, at the moment, Palin still has only the most spartan of political operations to take advantage of her massive following. We may look back at 2009/2010 in a few years time and see it as the time that Palin squandered one of the biggest and ripest opportunities in modern American politics. That said, of late, she appears to be doing more of the basic blocking and tackling -- including the release of a House race target list for 2010 -- that serious national candidates must engage in. (Previous ranking: 3)

2. Mitt Romney: Unlike 2008, Romney is picking his spots -- not endorsing in the New York 23 special election, skipping SRLC. The goal is to keep him above the fray and establish the image of him as the adult in the race. By and large it appears to be working, thanks in no small part to the fact that Romney has, by far, the largest and most sophisticated political operation among the candidates looking at running for president. The Massachusetts health care law will clearly be a problem for Romney if the national health care legislation remains a political touchstone for conservatives but it's hard to see how Romney isn't in the final mix for the nomination. (Previous ranking: 1)

1. Haley Barbour: Barbour, as chairman of the RGA, will have a chance to influence races all over the country this fall -- building up his fundraising contacts and further adding to his long list of loyalists within the party. Will Barbour run for president in 2012? Who knows. But, he is, at present, making sure he has that option open to him while building himself into the most influential leader within the party. (Previous ranking: 2)

Well, I've been kicked out of might near every bar around
I've been locked up for drivin' a hundred-n-twenty through town
Well, I've been shot at and cut with a knife
For messin' 'round with another man's wife
But other than that we ain't nothin', just good ol' boys

I threw my boss out a window and got fired from my last job
Hot wired a city truck and turned it over in the mayor's yard
Well, I beat my brother-in-law half to death, I lost twenty bucks on his football bet
But other than that we ain't nothin', just good ol' boys

Good ol' boys we're all the same
Ain't no way we'll ever change
Mean no harm by the things we do
Or the trouble that we get into
Other than a wild hair once in a while
We can't help it it's just our style
And good ol' boys is all we'll ever be

I've got an alimony payment that's six weeks overdue
I got caught with a truck full of bootleg out-of-state booze
I hocked my wife's diamond ring last June bought me an outboard Evinrude
But other than that we ain't nothin' just good ol' boys

Good ol' boys we're all the same
Ain't no way we'll ever change
Mean no harm by the things we do
Or the trouble that we get into
Other than a wild hair once in a while
We can't help it it's just our style
Good ol' boys is all we'll ever be

In light of all this, and the new radical twist that the Sons of Confederate Veterans have taken, you’ll be thrilled, no doubt, to know that the SCV-owned “Jefferson Davis Presidential Library”—at whose rededication and ground breaking Gov. Haley Barbour was a featured speaker—was heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

But not to worry. Its rehabilitation is being paid for with FEMA funds. Your tax dollars at work.

In light of all this, and the new radical twist that the Sons of Confederate Veterans have taken, you’ll be thrilled, no doubt, to know that the SCV-owned “Jefferson Davis Presidential Library”—at whose rededication and ground breaking Gov. Haley Barbour was a featured speaker—was heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

But not to worry. Its rehabilitation is being paid for with FEMA funds. Your tax dollars at work.

Well to a run for President, you can certainly rule out Haley Barbour. Who on earth would vote for a self-described "fat redneck" from a Welfare State with a Southern drawl and lip full of snuff?

Sarah "The Bimbo" Palin -- one word:

NEVER.

TO: DDAWD who wrote:
“Does Brown really have all that much capital? He failed to stop health reform (no fault of his own, obviously) He also made some enemies voting for that jobs bill. And he just doesn't have a large profile. It's nice that he has that seat, but he doesn't seem to have much influence in how the party is run.”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Brown failed to stop health care! Ha, what a crazy thing to say.
EVERY Republican FAILED to stop health care, thank God! But don’t worry, it won’t be long before the Republicans try to provide health care to some foreign country, which will no doubt be something you could support.

And you say Brown doesn’t have much influence in how the party is run – probably because he just got there.

This article is rather dry, but informative if you are a political nerd like I am. I dislike the style of a columnist who appears to be writing to fellow journalist rather than the public. His use of the word "panoply" in stead of list or slate is of little use except to show he has knowledge of seldom used words outside of the beltway. Hemingway was able to do a fair job of expressing himself with short, concise, simple sentences. I suggest that he do the same.

Some new goober meme .. It's not the guys shouting niggar who are the racists, nooOOOoooo, it's everyone else, and for contrived and idiotic reasons. So we hear about pre-CRA Democrats from the 50s, not about Republicans from this week.

Why are people responding to these trolls? Must be a realm idle weekend.

I don't believe moderation is coming. I do think that the FBI should be paying a visit to some of the mentals posting here. In the meantime, when you respond to a troll, even with contradiction, you dignify him. 37th is carpet-bombing this place with unintelligible crap and if you're reading it you have time management problems.

You have good points there - I supposed the democrats have a situation on their hands - if the blacks vote all in a block, that is about 22% of the democratic delegates - which is 44% of what a candidate needs for nomination.

What makes that even more difficult is a white candidate would then need to get 51% of the remaining 78% of the electorate.

So, a white candidate needs to get 65% of the white democratic vote in order to secure the nomination.

The problem comes in if there are multiple white candidates which make it difficult for one candidate to get 65% of that vote.

For instance, if there was a hispanic candidate in the race taking 8% like Richardson did - that would mean the white candidate would have to get 51% of the remaining 70% - (which is 72% of the remaining vote).

You may see where this is going - the white democratic candidates need a supermajority in order to get a majority of the delegates - this is what Hillary found herself up against.

Anyway - hopefully everyone will just act like this is a POSTRACIAL WORLD and we won't have those problems, right ?

37th
Whites voted for Obama by about 50%-50%because they weren't racists, and his skin color didn't matter to them. Blacks voted for Obama by 97%-3% because skin color was the only thing that mattered.
Like I wrote before. Just imagine if whites had voted 97%-3% for the white candidate (as blacks did voting for Obama) what every black in America, and the Democratic Party--controlled Main Stream Media would say today. They'd be rightly crucified as racists! Well there's no difference. It proved that it's blacks who are the real racists!

"Yeah, 37, everything except the part about 48% support (that's based on polls with comical samplings of 1000 landphones owned by the male and pale over 65 years of age who self-identify as "conservatives" (translation: Bob McDonnell neo onfederates). Posted by: broadwayjoe"

And it is just 48% of the pale male old conservatives who still have land lines that support the T's.

Blacks are the racists.
When 97% of all black voters vote for a black candidate with no experience, who has a long, long history of affilliations and friendship with avowed Communists and Communist groups, and with racist white--haters and America--haters like James Combs, Frank Marshall Davies, Paul Robeson, Jerimiah Wright Jr., Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dorhn, and Louis Farrakhan and the like, and still vote for him by 97%, the one and only explanation that is possible is that it's because of racial solidarity.
By the 2012 presidential elections, I'll guarantee that Barack Obama will get at the very least 90% of the black vote, even if he governs like Idi Amin, Joe Stalin, Adolph Hitler, or Pol Pot. Black voters will support him no matter what because he's a brother, and a tribal member.
THAT YOU CAN TAKE TO THE BANK!!!!

Your posting at 5:51 is silly, ridiculous - and again you are attempting to SMEAR millions of people.

Your point seems to be that there will be one or two crazies, SO THEREFORE THE OPINIONS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE NOT LEGITIMATE.

Well, that idea is just wrong.

No one wants any violence - because everyone knows this will be settled at the ballot box.

I have no idea what is motivating you to make such outlandish statements.

Even if there are one or two crazies, that has nothing to do with the LEGITIMATE OPINIONS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE.

You and broadwayjoe are just going to have to get used to the idea the Obama is nothing more than a snake oil salesmen - who went around the country for two years LYING to the AMERICAN PEOPLE - trying to convince them he was a moderate when in fact he had NO INTENTION OF EVER BEING A CENTRIST.

Obama is a LIAR, plain and simple.

Obama had a choice - he could have ACTUALLY DONE WHAT HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO DO.

"Jim Horney, director of federal fiscal policy at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, thinks it makes the most sense to look at the last year of the 10-year CBO projections for the health care reform bill. By then, the plan is fully phased in, including the full effect of all the tax cuts and tax hikes. In that year, the total revenue increase is estimated to be $104 billion. That comes to a little less than 1/2 percent of the projected GDP that year.

Horney notes that that's slightly smaller than the tax effect in the fifth years of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (a tax increase signed by President George H.W. Bush) and the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (a tax increase signed by President Bill Clinton), as a percentage of the GDP at the time. And it's less than half of the tax increase (again as a percentage of GDP) from the Tax Equity And Fiscal Responsibility Act signed by President Ronald Reagan.

'CBO says the net effect on revenues is that it is an increase,' Horney said. 'It's not insignificant. But it is far from being the largest tax increase in recent history.'

William Ahern with the Tax Foundation, a business-backed tax policy group, said total new revenues of $525 billion over 10 years isn't close to the size of the Clinton tax hike in 1993 or the Reagan tax hike in 1982. However, he said, a rigorous comparison can't be made because in 1982 and 1993, the Joint Committee on Taxation only did five-year estimates.

Blumberg, of the Urban Institute, said both Republicans and Democrats would be wise to get away from the 'biggest' jargon.

Again, here we're are looking at Scarborough's side of the hyperbole wars. There's ample evidence that the health care bills result in a net tax increase. But when Scarborough characterized it as 'the largest tax increase in U.S. history,' that doesn't hold up when you level the playing field and compare several tax increases in recent decades to the GDP at the time. And so we rate his claim False."

So, authorities on both sides agree: you are an expert on taxes and the economy like Sarah Palin is an expert on nuclear (you would say "nucular") issues.

The guy was shouting, and he spit by mistake - the spit would have still be spit,

However if Rep. Cleaver was where he usually is - far away from the crowds - the spit would have never hit him.

Who walks right in front a group of people shouting ????

He actually looked like a basketball player - faking a motion - just to get the officials to call a foul.

These Congressmen should be MATURE ENOUGH to handle opposition crowds anyway.

They have safe Congressional districts, they are getting a salary from the government, they have it easier than anyone - to see them on CNN saying "he said a bad word to me" - they look like 2nd graders on the playground.

Grow up - you are adults - you are supposed to be leaders from whom more is expected.

37th and armpeg are just laying back muttering "you guys just wait. You'll see." And they are right. The anger that is mounting in this country will continue to find outlets, whether it's Tea Party rallies, lone operatives flying into buildings, and death threats. So far, the attempts have been thwarted (except for the IRS flier), but there will be more and more examples of rage surfacing.

Right now, the T people can say "it never happened" or like 37th, it happened, but the black congressmen deserved it. As time goes on, the demonstrations will be impossible to ignore or explain away.

So, 37th/armpeg, you are right. The explosion is coming, unfortunately. The last time I felt this kind of rage was during the 1960's and we know that resulted in multiple assassinations.

You obviously are not familiar with Capitol Hill - those Congressmen never go in front of the crowds like that - even friendly ones.

You really don't know what you are talking about.

It is OBVIOUS to everyone that they were seeking a confrontation with the crowd.

This kind of POLITICS HAS NO PLACE IN AMERICA.

It is that simple. Plain and simple.

Yes, a great number of blacks have conservative views - that much is true.

And there are a great number of black churches that stick to the Gospel and do not move in on all that politics like Rev. Wright did.

Obama CHOSE to go to Rev. Wright's church - he had other options.

How many OTHER CHURCHES WERE BETWEEN OBAMA'S HOUSE AND REV. WRIGHTS CHURCH - IT WAS QUITE A DISTANCE IN THE CITY.

OBAMA WAS NOT GOING TO A LOCAL CHURCH IN HYDE PARK.

Obama was going out of his way to bring his children to a radical church.

You chose to ignore the facts, or to completely blind to them.

I would have a great deal more respect for you if you agreed with with parts, and then said you had a different opinion on other parts - but you don't. You are a typing democratic talking point, that is it.

" It's the black congressman who is the RACIST, because, well it gets a little complicated here, but follow along...he's black and the spitter wouldn't have spit hadn't the congressman been black, and further, he wouldn't have spit if the congressman had been 50 yards further to the west, and further, he wouldn't have spit if the congressman has come there on a Tuesday, not a Wednesday.

Can't we get back to how the planted Tea Party [Armenian] candidate in Nevada is splitting the Armenian vote with the Republican [Armenian] "because we know Armenians all stick together". I'm sure armpeg will have some novel explanation as to the inherent inferiority of Armenians. I can't wait.

37, when some bagger spits in the face of a black congressman and yells the n-word at him, it's fair to assume he is an unrepentant, unhinged racist...IMO.

Posted by: broadwayjoe | April 11, 2010 5:01 PM
-----------------------------------
You just don't get it. It's the black congressman who is the RACIST, because, well it gets a little complicated here, but follow along...he's black and the spitter wouldn't have spit hadn't the congressman been black, and further, he wouldn't have spit if the congressman had been 50 yards further to the west, and further, he wouldn't have spit if the congressman has come there on a Tuesday, not a Wednesday.

I am thinking about it. You are the spin meister--blacks are actually the racists for staying away from Tea Parties. And why, hang onto your hat here folks, because they REALLY want to go, but they can't--because they are BLACK. Couldn't be the niggar signs-oh, no.

Wasn't it only yesterday that the right wingers on this blog were claiming that blacks were attending Tea Parties. Now, they admit they aren't, but why, it's because blacks are RACISTS.

Bwahahaha!!!!!!!!!!

Not Tina Fey, Jon Stewart would be better. We should email him this idea.

That is closer to the truth than anything - there is a percentage of blacks who do AGREE with the Tea Party ideas - but they are not coming to the TEA Party rallies BECAUSE OF THE COLOR OF OBAMA'S SKIN.

Think about it, I know you don't really think about thing that are outside your talking points.

Are the blacks STAYING AWAY FROM THE TEA PARTY RALLIES - EVEN THOUGH THEY AGREE WITH THE TEA PARTY IDEAS - just so they can support Obama BASED ON THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN ???
----------------------------
Think what Tina Fey could do with this line.

Hispanics voted for Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden over Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin by a margin of more than two-to-one in the 2008 presidential election, 67% versus 31%, according to an analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center of exit polls from Edison Media Research as published by CNN.

In addition to their strong support for Obama, Latino voters have moved sharply into the Democratic camp in the past two years, reversing a pro-GOP tide that had been evident among Latinos earlier in the decade.

You have an interesting mix of denying there is a multi decade decline of blacks voting Republican. Then you explain it by stereotyping blacks as liking to be on the dole. Then you go on to stereotype R's as some kind of misunderstood patriots that the blacks are just too, well you fill in the word, to understand.

You are just too deep into your ideology to be able to see long term trends. You want to explain everything by what happened in the 2008 election. How're you going to explain why Hispanics are fleeing the R party? More stereotypes?

Unlike the elections from Ike on where we had two white candidates running against each other, in the 2008 election we had a black and a white candidate. The result was that while whites split their vote by about 50%-50% for the white and black candidate (no racism there), black voters voted 97%-3% (or 96%-4% according to you) for the black candidate almost exclusively. Since the black candidate, Obama, had absolutely no experience running anything and was a political novice, and had a 20+year history of Communist, racist anti--white, and hatred for America affilliations, the only possible reason why blacks supported Obama by that high a percentage has to be because of a shared skin color and tribal membership.
There's a trend away from the GOP alright, but it's not because of politics. Blacks in fact have more in common with the GOP re. Family values, religion, marriage, school choice, vouchers, and educating their kids, drugs and crime, immigration, and patriotism. The trend away from the GOP is because the Democrats buy black votes. The Republicans don't. Democrats believe that blacks are inferior and need special care, special programs to bring them up to par, prefered this and that, give them freebees (at taxpayers expense), and believe that blacks, like children, need not take responsibility for any of their misdeads. Republicans believe in equality, everyone taking responsibility for themselves, and if you're successful in life, you did it on your own with hard work and long hours and should keep what you've earned. The reason why blacks are supporting Democrats more today is because blacks get things for nothing from the Democrats, but not the Republicans.
The basic difference between the parties comes down to the old saying that if you give a man a fish, you satisfy him for one day. If you teach him how to fish, you satisfy him for a lifetime. Democrats give blacks a fish, Republicans teach him how to fish.

Yeah, 37, everything except the part about 48% support (that's based on polls with comical samplings of 1000 landphones owned by the male and pale over 65 years of age who self-identify as "conservatives" (translation: Bob McDonnell neo confederates).

37, what happened to Tea Bag pResident and founder Dale Robertson? He's lain low since waving his n-word sign around. His troops need him to step forward to lead daily spitting and screaming exercises.

The fact that Ashjian and GOP candidate Tarkanian share an Armenian heritage is also being questioned. Tarkanian alleges that "Harry Reid's staff, campaign, whatever" hand-picked Ashjian to split the state's Armenian vote: "They know the Armenians are very close [and will] vote for each other."
--------------------------------
Guess the Nevada Armenians [!] stick together maybe for "tribal" reasons, eh armpeg?

argues David Phillips in Examiner.com, a strong Ashjian showing may "help the Tea Party populist movement in the long run by showing that the Tea Party is strong enough to field its own candidates," despite the self-serving warnings of Palin and other Republicans.
-----------------------------------
Plan A=Ashjian is a fake T person.

"Get lost," says Tea Party Express spokesman and talk radio host Mark Williams, in an anti-Ashjian web ad. "None of us has ever heard of you, or even seen you at a Tea Party rally." \
------------------------

Oh, that's how they can tell whether you are REALLY a TPer. You've been seen at a rally.

LOL. The tea baggers were a bogus creation of lobbyists, Faux News, and corporatists to fight against HCR, which passed respite their antics and thuggery. Now the bagger "movement" is REAL and a problem for the GOP who sees them as siphoning off support from the Yahoo base.
A virtual battalion of mentals and white nationalists--the worst of the worst. Let's hope they do a spoiler act ala Perot in 1992.

Here's a little about the Nevada TP candidate who 37th says is a plant:

Ashjian, 46, is a former longtime Republican, a Mormon father of three, and the owner of an asphalt company and 26 other small ventures. He created the Tea Party of Nevada in January and is running under its banner in a bid to unseat Reid. He says he identifies politically with Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin, and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX).

Part of what scares the Republicans is a generic ballot question that features the Tea Party in a 3 way ballot. Republicans take a huge hit when the third party is included. Dems take a hit, but a small one. This could very well be a problem in a place live Nevada where the opposition to Reid could be split. That would be a backbreaker for a seat that Republicans have to be considered a favorite to retake at the moment.

The TP can basically claim credit for anything and everything. They don't have any kind of unified platform, hell, they don't even have any unified way of organizing. When asked, they say they don't want to be organized. When asked who their leader is, they say they don't want any leaders.

This is just an easy way to take no responsibility, but to take credit.

I could claim that 48% of the nation agrees with me, and everytime somebody wins an election, hell, they agree with me.

What a bunch of b.s. When the TP puts themselves on the line, to win or lose, that's when they get my respect.

Obviously, if the candidate was genuine in their views. However, this apparently is not the case - the intention appears to be to DECEIVE THE VOTERS - and draw votes away from the Republican candidate - who IS SUPPORTED BY THE TEA PARTY.

So, I guess if you don't have any problem with deceptions, then it would be OK with you.

Well, I guess if you were OK with all of Obama's deceptions in his platform, it would make sense that you like to be with LIARS AND YOU SUPPORT THEM WHENEVER YOU CAN.

That was definitely one of the strongest overriding messages during the conference. That there needs to be unity. No vote splitting. And yeah, they tried to pin it on the Dems as well. But the Republicans do realize this is a real threat. That's why so many of them are making noise about it. Palin mentioned it recently. As to how the US is a two party country. A few people said that yesterday as well. About there being no room for third parties. That's why they are pretending that the teabagger candidate in Nevada is a Reid plant.

And some of the teabagger leaders aren't happy with being co-opted by Republicans. And when they do pop up on a ballot like in Nevada, they are being told that it's impossible for them to have a legit candidate and that he must be a plant? That's not going to make these guys too happy.

The Tea Party is going to support the Republican candidates - they are not going to split the vote.

In some cases, there is a "tea party" label on the ballots.

However, in at least one state Nevada, there are suspicions that the DEMOCRATS ARE LYING TO THE PUBLIC ON THE BALLOT - AND TRYING TO PLACE A CANDIDATE ON THE BALLOT WHO IS NOT REALLY A TEA PARTY CANDIDATE BUT SOMEONE WORKING WITH THE DEMOCRATS.

This is Harry Reid at his most treacherous.

With friends like these, 12barblues, you really don't need any enemies, do you ?

The main point is this is where the country is Tea Party 48% Obama 44%.

Ouch.

The friend of the Tea Party people, who may be more independent, are not going to take too kindly to Obama calling their friends racist - especially since they know the people personally and Obama, the democrats and idiots like broadwayjoe do not.

THE MAIN ISSUE THE OBAMA HAS THE LARGEST TAX INCREASE IN AMERICAN HISTORY.

Yes, Obama, you did make history - in taxes and being the SECOND HOOVER ADMINISTRATION.

Let's say the Tea Partiers take over the nation. How would we know that was the case? Are they going to run their own candidates, under the TP banner, or are they just going to take credit for any Republican win?

What about Ron Paul. Let's say he won the R. nomination and was elected President. Is that a TP win?

These racists voted for Barack Obama for one and one reason only, he was a tribal member and McCain wasn't.
----------------------------------------
Some inconvenient facts: 40% of blacks voted for Eisenhower, Nixon 32%, Reagan 10%, Bush 9%, and McCain 4%. This is a long term trend, not one that just happened with "tribal members" identifying with Obama.

You might consider what JC Watts' father, Buddy Watts, said about voting Republican in 1995, long before Obama came on the scene.

"A Black man voting for the Republicans makes about as much sense as a chicken voting for Col. Sanders," Watts Sr. told the Los Angeles Times. "I couldn't be no Republican because the Republican Party is against the poor man."

You seem to have the idea that Obama came on the scene, and voila, blacks suddenly gathered around the campfire. Wrong! The R's have been losing the black vote for decades. A better question is "why"?

Armpeg has a good point - the blacks are supporting Obama based on the color of his skin - NOT on the basis of policy evaluation.

Well how else can you explain the LACK OF DIVERSITY OF OPINION WITHIN THE BLACK COMMUNITY ?

Clearly, that racism doesn't leave much of a pool of minorities for the Tea Party - one could EASILY MAKE THE POINT THAT THE BLACKS ARE BEING RACIST TO THE TEA PARTY - REFUSING TO CONSIDER THEIR OPINIONS BASED ON RACE.

It is pretty simple.

This simple fact may be difficult for the liberals to understand - especially since most of them are pretty closed minded to begin with.

The reason why there are so few blacks in the Tea Parties, is the same reason why only 3% of all black voters voted for McCain/Palin, while Barack Obama got 97% of their vote, racism.
These racists voted for Barack Obama for one and one reason only, he was a tribal member and McCain wasn't. His (to them) PC skin color was enough for them to vote for him by a 97% margin. It didn't matter to them that Obama had close ties to all kinds of racist and Communist groups for all of his adult life, was closely allied with racist white-haters and America--haters like James Combs, Frank Marshall Davies, Paul Robeson, Jerimiah Wright Jr., Louis Farrakhan, etc or that he had absolutely zero experience (exept as a rabble-rousing "community organizer", trying to get government freebees to people most of whom were on welfare and too lazy to work). Now these same racists, including noacoler and broadwayjoe et al here on Fix, are trying to pin the 'racist' label on millions of Tea Partiers protesting Obama's Communist policies of anti--Constitutional and anti--American nationalization of private industry, confiscatory taxation, forced unionization and re-distribution of all wealth policies by peacefull protests (something that never happens when liberals protest anything done by Republicans), because there was one or two right-wing nuts carrying a few signs that weren't quite kosher. The real racists are the ones that trot out the race card every time that they can't debate with facts, just to try to shut up someone who doesn't agree with them, or with their tribal member Barack Obama, or his political policies and objectives.
Just imagine what these same black racists, Fix's Noacoler and broadwayjoe et al, and the Democrap Socialist Party--controlled Main Stream Media, would say had 97% of all America's white voters voted for the white candidate McCain, and only 3% for Obama. Well, that is exactly what the black racists did in the last presidential election voting for their tribal member Obama!

Love your list!
It just so RepubliKKKan -- mostly men, all white and comprised of indicted and undicted felons and forced resignations. Pictures of 8 of the 10 are on display in your local post office while the other two are on work release.

Can't wait for the t-baggers to split the RepubliKKKans and end up re-electing every single 'Crat.

Yee Haw!

(P.S.Pick Perry -- he's the most disloyal cut and runner of the bunch -- a true Textan.)

'Ron Paul continues to breed lingering divisions on the right. The former Republican presidential candidate delivered a blistering criticism of neoconservative foreign policy views at the Conservative Political Action Conference earlier this year while taking home a victory in the presidential straw poll with 31 percent of the vote.

Rush Limbaugh responded by claiming CPAC is “not an organization of conservatives,” and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee similarly said CPAC is becoming “increasingly libertarian and less Republican.” [LOL]

Today at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, a similar dynamic played out. House Republican Conference Chairman Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) was booed by Ron Paul followers during his speech. Washington Post blogger Dave Weigel, who is reporting from the conference, described the scene: “Pence says ‘America stands with Israel’; Ron Paul contingent boos, shouted down by chants of ‘USA!’”

Later, when it was his turn to speak at the convention, the libertarian Paul delivered a scathing criticism of Republican foreign policy views:

Conservatives spend money on different things. They like embassies, and they like occupation. They like the empire. They like to be in 135 countries and 700 bases. (boos) [...]

Don’t you think it’s rather conservative to say, ‘oh it’s good to follow the Constitution, oh, except for war. Let the President go to war anytime they want.’ [...] We can do better with peace than with war! (mixture of boos and applause)

Throughout his speech, Paul’s comments were met with an awkward tension from the crowd, many of whom appeared uncomfortable with him.'

The problem with Obama is he insists on being out-of-touch with what the country needs - why ? The only answer can be his ridiculous ego.

When Obama should be working on the economy, he is working on health care.

When Obama should be working on putting MORE money into the economy, Obama is RAISING the taxes, and putting a drag on hiring and hurting the economy.

When Obama should be working on trade, and reducing our trade deficit, Obama is off on nuclear weapons - great but reducing excessive nuclear weapons are just that - excessive which we really don't need anyway.

The liberals are either blindly following Obama, trying to defend him - or quietly shaking their head at his job performance.

Obama's job approval - some of it is blind support.

Many people who are saying they approve of Obama's performance are really not thinking about the policies which he has worked on.

Obama has lost the middle, and he has lost the middle in a way he will never get them back.

There are also key segments of the democratic side which are going to vote against Obama and the democrats because they simply do not like the swing to the far-left - they feel there was a fundamental deception.

This is why when Obama had the chance to drop health care he was lucky to have that chance - and he didn't take it.

This from the guy who says he's a multimillionaire but turns out to be trying ("willing to learn") to break into the low double digits world of professional photography, begging narcissistic web-women for notice.

Open an illustrated dictionary to the definition of "loser," and there's a picture of zouk, the guy so invested in a stupid blog that he puts twelve hours of work into collecting screeds from hate-sites to post without attribution.

How much you make last week, zouk? Did you do a "downscale" wedding for maybe eighty bucks?

You would love it here zouk. The hammer and sickle flags and the pictures and statues of Hồ Chi Minh would give you a heart attack. To say nothing of the soaring economy, and people motivated to work under Socialism. Yeah, Vietnamese laying around because there's no motivation under a system like this. My God you are such an idiot.

This from the guy who says he's a multimillionaire but turns out to be trying ("willing to learn") to break into the low double digits world of professional photography, begging narcissistic web-women for notice.

Open an illustrated dictionary to the definition of "loser," and there's a picture of zouk, the guy so invested in a stupid blog that he puts twelve hours of work into collecting screeds from hate-sites to post without attribution.

How much you make last week, zouk? Did you do a "downscale" wedding for maybe eighty bucks?

broadwayjoe I resent your use of the word Teabagger not that you will most likely care! I am a veteran like many others whom has given sweat, tears and blood for our country and just because you and I don't agree politically is no reason to refer to me or anyone else as a Tea Bagger.

==

My father served in the armed forces with honornand distinction and I thank your service as I did him for his at a time when the USA was a respectable and honorable nation.

It ceased to be one no later than November os 2004 when the American people reelected a liar and sadist. It is now in an advanced and unchecked decline.

As for "tea bagger," get the hell over it. That's what they call themselves, a racist movement of loathsome and despicable people unfit for landfill.

We may look back at 2009/2010 in a few years time and see it as the time that Palin squandered one of the biggest and ripest opportunities in modern American politics.

==

Opportunity my butt pimples. She's a god damn hick with a two digit IQ who has maximized her opportunities by getting rich. To say that being popular equates to political influence is to place this idiot woman alongside Britney Spears or screeching Whitney Houston and say they had a shot too. Palin is a hater who motivates other haters. She does NOT have the brains to lead. She does NOT have the brains to influence.

10. Gingrich - asked his wife for a divorce while she was in recovery from cancer surgery, now complains Obama is too secular. Which implies he frowns upon the 1st Amendment while calling Obama radical. Looking at the rampant hypocrisy in today's GOP, yes, he seems quite influential.

9. Brown - voted for RomneyCare, then highly critical of the very similar ObamaCare. GOP calls ObamaCare Armageddon, in their straw poll, they choose Romney who enacted basically the same plan as their presidential preference. Brown too seems influential.

8. Thune - votes for TARP, becomes fierce TARP critic. Influential.

7. Perry - suggests stimulus could drive Texas to secede from Union, then gets on his knees and asks Federal Government for $170 million pretty please. A few months later, Republican congressmen who attacked the stimulus, attend ribbon cutting ceremonies for projects it funds, creating jobs... yes, Perry is influential.

6. Rubio - Counter to the opinions of an overwhelming majority of climatologists, he like Palin and Limbaugh suggests Global Warming may not be manmade. He's not just influential, he's inspiring..

GOP 2008: "Obama, a senator for 4 years, on foreign relations committee 4 years, 2 years in senate before being a pres. candidate = dangerously inexperienced."
GOP 2010: "Rubio should run for president with 2 years less experience than Obama had! That's 0 experience before being a candidate! He's our guy!"

5. Pawlenty - Attacking Obama reflexively on everything (even telling kids to stay in school like Reagan and Bush Sr. did) to transparently boost his own political prospects. He's quite influential.

4. Cornyn/Sessions: Vows to Campaign to Repeal Health Reform! then when bluff called chickens out/blasted Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake for their strip tease then held fundraisers at a burlesque club. Yep. Influential.

3. Palin - No facts necessary folks. Extremely influential.

2. Romney - His comments after ObamaCare passed = ranting wildly against things he himself did. Very influential on today's GOP.

A "Bushie Watch List?"
IS AN OMAMA 'TRUE JUSTICE SQUAD' QUIETLY WORKING TO RESTORE CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS?

Is an Eric Holder DOJ "True Justice Squad" keeping book on rogue Bush holdovers across the bureaucracy...

as some Bushie leave-behinds continue to oversee secret multi-agency programs of covert microwave torture, police-protected vigilante community harassment, and financial sabotage of extrajudicially and unjustly "targeted" American citizens...

Most of these guys (and girl, maybe) know 2012 will be the year of the Independent as in big "I". Sarah can never straddle the middle (pardon the pun); Haley may surprise everyone - he knows how to communicate and can raise more money than anyone else; Mitt is a carboard cut out- he won't make the cut; Perry and Rubio might have a shot since they can get brown people to vote for them; I still like Ron Paul, a tell it like it is guy; Mitt's one vote victory at the Southern R leaderhsip bash did not diminish Paul's gravity. IMHO in 2012 the "I"'s have it. No righties or lefties.

'Right-wing blogger Andrew Breitbart spoke at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans today, using his time at the podium to attack Democrats and the mainstream media. For starters, he accused both of fabricating racist slurs aimed at Democratic congressmen during the health care debate.'

"We are watching the emerging strategy of the post-health care bill of the Democratic Party, and it started the day before the bill was signed, when the most controversial members of the Democratic caucus walked among the Tea Party participants with cameras in the air, with glares in their eyes," Breitbart said, naming Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and Barney Frank (D-MA).

"They were all fishing for hate, and they got none," he went on, saying they then went to the "mainstream media." "They said that the N-word was said 15 times."

Breitbart shook his head in disbelief, saying there's no proof such things happened.

"The left ... accuses you of what they're doing to you," he said. [Orwell couldn't have topped this]

Breitbart also wondered aloud why " the left is allowed to throw around the dangerous accusation of racism."

"when the most controversial members of the Democratic caucus walked among the Tea Party participants with cameras in the air, with glares in their eyes," Breitbart said, naming Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and Barney Frank (D-MA)"

The 'most controversial members' being a black woman and a gay man -- what a coincidence. Also, they had 'glares in their eyes' which must have made it hard to see.

You know, I'm liking that new Right Now blog. It's not really straight up right wing advocacy. It's more like a look as to what's going on behind the doors. Not straight journalism, but it's not an opinion column either. Kind of like level headed analysis. Keep this guy. Get rid of Ponnuru.

"The first serious signs of the Tea Bag movement appeared during the 2008 presidential campaigns, when some Republican rallies took on the aspect of Klan rallies, with people shouting ugly things about Obama and menacing the press. From there the movement gathered steam as large numbers questioned whether Barack Obama was born in the United States.

Many had an identity problem as they saw an African American President, a female Speaker of the House of Representatives, and then a very bright Hispanic lady nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. They felt that they were losing their country, and their identity as the people who owned America was severely challenged."

Speaking of hand-reading, I had a good night at the casino taking money off SRLC people. After getting to the table, I started talking up Obama. Which pissed them off. So they started trying to debate with me, which they can't since I know my stuff. Also, I can concentrate on cards while talking politics. They can't. And especially not while angry. I ended up taking $2Gs. I told them it's all going towards Obama's reelection, haha.

The real reason I'm a technical investor is because fundamentals (including political) are just too much "on the one hand, and on the other". I much prefer an evaluation system that is more binary and unemotional. I don't bother to hypothesize why stocks are going up or down, what I care about is the direction.

Of course, experienced investors will tell you that no technicals give you enough information.

12bb, the stock market is just some weird Rosarsch test for people. You have the idiots who say that the market crashed looking forward to Obama or that it's rising now looking forward to November. Of course this isn't true. That's not how the market works. That's what happens when you have a segment of kids educated by FOX news. They spout off these talking points.

And while I guess it's easy to blame FOX, but 37th would still be a complete moron regardless of Ailes or Murdoch.

They just panned the room during Steele's speech. A lot of empty seats. The crowd is also a lot older than I expected.

I was just thinking, it's too bad Obama had to get elected under these conditions. He's having to put in this monumental effort just to get the country back to normal footing. Imagine what he could have accomplished if he were President in 2001.

12BB, I knew quite a few people for who their first choice was Paul and their second choice was Obama since Paul wasn't nominated. Paul's policies fall apart under any scrutiny, but if you don't apply that scrutiny, he does sound good to independents.

This guy sounds sort of like Adam West. If you close your eyes, you can picture Batman spouting off right wing rhetoric.

The only reason the stock market dropped in the first place is because Obama was leading in the polls - and Wall Street knew that Obama was going to push through the LARGEST TAX INCREASE IN HISTORY, CHOKING OFF ALL ECONOMIC GROWTH AND PLACING A DRAG ON HIRING.

yeah, 12bb, I do think Paul connected with the crowd in ways that some of the more gifted speakers couldn't. I wonder if younger Republicans are more "true conservative" Republicans rather than that whole moral right we've been seeing for the past 30 years.

And there hasn't been that much talk about the moral stuff. I don't think I've heard one word about gay marriage. Some stuff on abortion. They will talk about themselves as Christians individually but never really said anything about the US being a Christian nation or about about prayer in schools or stuff like that.

I wonder if Congressman Cao is going to speak. I don't think so. He's really got nothing in common with these guys. But they are alternating heavy hitters with local guys. Mainly Louisiana Congressmen.

I could sense some cognitive dissonance with Paul's speech. When we started criticizing the party.

As much as these guys try to distance themselves from Bush, this is still a party of Bush policy. Paul is one of the few Republicans who is against Bush policy of wild spending and unchecked military usage.

"I think Nate Silver's column should be read on the lines of "if the election were held today..." He was basically looking at the generic ballot and translating that into electoral results. If the generic ballot changes, then your prediction would change as well. Yeah, we are adding jobs, but we have had net job loss under Obama. Obviously it's not his fault, but for the people who are out of work, they are not happy and will blame Obama. Especially those who are normally inclined to vote Republican and switched over to Obama out of disgust for Bush. If their situation isn't improving, then why would they vote Democrat again? Posted by: DDAWD"

Of course the "generic ballot" they try to post is D v R with outliers distributed, as non D therefor R.

To properly gau8ge this election they need to carefully concoct a generic ballot of D,R,L,G, and T. Then they need a bic enough sample that the G and T numbers are statistically significant, and that probably means 5k and not 1k. Since the emphasis is on trying to distribute the D/R ratio, they run samples that seem to quantify that split, but then they distribute the Not Sure and Undecided to R advantage.

This isn't going to be a good year for pollsters when they miss the real driving forces out there in the fringes.

heh, I agree with 37th. DOW Jones is meaningless. Of course, he's only saying that because its up under Obama's watch. It dropped during his first few months and it was blamed on Obama. Now that its taking off, 37th says its meaningless. zook says its because its in anticipation of Republican takeover. Others say its evidence that Obama is for big business.

Whatever. 37th and his cohorts are all a bunch of buffoons with no sense of intellectual consistency. Any wonder college educated people leave the party in droves? They push the meme that its because they are elitist. But college educated people haven't worked their asses off to be treated like idiots.

If you kind of half listen to Ron Paul and don't think too carefully about what he says, he actually has a message that would appeal to independents.

In reference to your comments at 3:50 - why do you hate the Tea Party Movement ???

I think you should deal with your own hate before you start talking about other people.

In fact, you are projecting your own hate onto the Tea party.

You probably believe that the Tea Party should have a certain amount of minorities in their crowds - in order for their views to be considered "legitimate"

What is that - some sort of QUOTA ???

What is that - some sort of AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PROGRAM FOR LEGITIMACY OF FIRST AMENDMENT EXPRESSION ????

If you think about it, your views are sick - you are projecting what you want onto millions of people - you want the Washington Post to print ONLY what you want - and you want the Tea Party crowds to have only people ACCEPTABLE TO YOU.

What are they supposed to do - stand at the gates and make sure the right mixture of minorities are there ???

'Yesterday I flagged the new information released about Gregory Giusti, the fine gentleman arrested for threatening Speaker Nancy Pelosi in more than 48 threatening and/or harassing phone calls over almost a two month period leading up to the Health Care Reform vote. But there was some pretty hilarious comedy wrapped into this otherwise ugly event.

It seems Giusti had rather overstated his clandestine skills as a wannabe domestic terrorist.

Giusti allegedly used the Internet phone service Magic Jack to make his threatening calls. And in one call to Pelosi's office taunted "and the number I'm calling from is untraceable so if you're trying to trace it have fun."

Needless to say, though, it seems that the security mountain in front of Magic Jack was no match for the tech folks at the FBI.'

The only discussion I want to have with you about the stock market is to get your predictions. Then I plan to go in the opposite direction. You don't know squat about investing. Stick with politics, you at least have a working knowledge of that.

Posted by: 12BarBlues | April 10, 2010 3:56 PM
_____________

The closest "37" gets to "economics" is counting the number of smashed soda cans he has collected to take down to Piggly Wiggly to redeem for cash.

The only discussion I want to have with you about the stock market is to get your predictions. Then I plan to go in the opposite direction. You don't know squat about investing. Stick with politics, you at least have a working knowledge of that.

37, read the full text of Mr. DeBrosse's important and well-received analysis of the bagger movement (link below). The MSM, including MANY Fix coworkers at the Post, are calling out the baggers on their hate agenda. It's about time, IMO.

silly silly silly - the stock market started out at 14,000 - went down, and then recovered some of the losses -

You are somehow saying that Obama should get credit for the low of the market on up.

Well it doesnt work that way - mostly because Obama has NOT done much for the economy. The stimulus is NOT working - and the amount of money which has gone to democratic interest groups is obscene.

The measure of the economy is employment, NOT HOW MUCH THE STOCK MARKET IS.

I know you will try to make the case, and argue, and talk about how smart and right you are - but no one cares - Obama knows little about economics - Obama has IMPOSED A MASSIVE TAX INCREASE ON THE ECONOMY WHICH WILL PUT A DRAG ON HIRING -

Sherman DeBrosse's psychological analysis of the baggers is spot on. Emergency professional intervention is clearly in order:

"Most of the Tea Baggers probably do not hate Obama just because he is black, but his race certainly does not help. Some of their anger is at the emergence of a more inclusive nation where there are greater opportunities for blacks and other marginalized people. This is happening at the same time that many in the middle class perceive that their status and economic security is threatened. Unfortunately, the blacks and other marginalized people will not return to the back of the bus, and it may be too late to reverse all the policies that endanger the middle class.

The Democrats have long had a Caucasian problem. Not since Lyndon B. Johnson have they won the white vote. White males are most likely to vote against Democrats. These “angry white men” resent the gains African-Americans, other minorities, and women have made. Rusty De Pass, a rightist in South Carolina claimed that an escaped gorilla was one of Obama’s ancestors."

Is there anything we can do with this HATE SPEECH by broadwayjoe on the other threat at 12:48pm 4/10. It really is out of hand.

And to broadwayjoe - all these people following the democratic talking points are wrong, and they are inflaming the situation in this country. You can add all the ultra-liberals to that list, it doesn't make them right.

These guys are pushing an anti-BHO agenda. It's up to BHO's communications team to pushback...hard--but they never seem to. It's tough when one network (Faux News) devotes its entire broadcast day to what amounts to a free political attack ad against BHO, and features a lineup of some of the most high profile (alleged) bigots and extremists of our generation.

I wonder who the Republicans are trying to convince when they headline blacks like Herman Cain. Do they really think that black Americans, who voted 96% for Obama, and who have increasingly voted Democratic for decades, are going to say "whoops, we've been wrong. The Republicans are for us."

That's the same idea behind running Sarah Palin, thinking they could pick up Hillary Clinton women supporters. Like women wouldn't notice the difference. Didn't work then, won't work now.

Obviously, the R's headline Herman Cain to convince THEMSELVES they are diverse, even though they aren't. Then, THEY can feel better.

Jeez, do Republicans understand that the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are different things?

I know it's not unusual to see a black man in New Orleans, but it is unusual in this case. I've got no idea who this Herman Cain guy is other than he was on the front page of the SRLC website for some reason.

Barbour is actually speaking now. He's railing against the idea of ideological purity. Talked about how Hayley Barbour could never be elected governor of Vermont. And that someone who agrees with you 80% of the time isn't a 20% traitor.

Very true. If Republicans can get that through their skulls, they will be a more formidable opponent.

But what will trump all that will be who they chose to run against BHO. If it's a Yahoo like Palin or some discredited past figure like Gingrich or Huckabee, BHO wins regardless of how the economy or foreign affairs are doing.

However, if it's a generic white male moderate (Gov. McDonnell fit in that category until his racist Confederacy nostalgia/slavery denial meltdown), BHO may struggle. But remember the economy by be okay by then, in fact some say the comeback is already taking place.

One key to BHO's future success is not wasting a millisecond more on seeking "bipartisanship"; he should set out his agenda and just go for it. When the opposition tells you publicly "We want you to fail," take their word for it, Mr. President.

At least that means the market has further to go to the upside, because all those conservatives who won't buy now, WILL buy later when the market is up 100% or 150% or more. And that, folks, is what causes bubbles.

I think Nate Silver's column should be read on the lines of "if the election were held today..." He was basically looking at the generic ballot and translating that into electoral results. If the generic ballot changes, then your prediction would change as well. Yeah, we are adding jobs, but we have had net job loss under Obama. Obviously it's not his fault, but for the people who are out of work, they are not happy and will blame Obama. Especially those who are normally inclined to vote Republican and switched over to Obama out of disgust for Bush. If their situation isn't improving, then why would they vote Democrat again?

I've been puzzled and amazed by the blindness of conservatives to the recovery of the stock market. The market is up 70% over a year and that isn't a flash in the pan. Finally, Kudlow (who is a card-carrying conservative) states the OBVIOUS. The economy is recovering, duh. The market has been signaling that for months.

So, the "end of the world" curse put on by the conservatives isn't playing out. Now, the smarter ones are trying to pre-empt the good news by claiming it's about 11/2010. Of course, that doesn't explain the last year, but since when is consistency important.

In my opinion, nothing blinds an investor more than applying his politics to the stock market. And that includes liberal views as well as conservative. It's better to be as neutral as possible and stay open to all possibilities. When I have been most wrong is when I have been most certain.

But most people do get together either in person (Tea Party) or online (blogs), reinforce each other's views, and apply that "wisdom" to the market. Then, once the market performs, most of them conveniently forget they ever made such ridiculous predictions. I suppose the most positive result of this silliness, is that it creates opportunities in the market. The market is hardly perfectly priced.

I read this today, 12Bar -- and it's depressingly true. I mean look at this blog -- every single day trashing dems all day long, parroting R talking points -- almost everywhere you look on the so-called news -- rightwing rants about how awful things are. It's just black-is-white, through the looking glass stuff.

"Charlie Cook is on Hardball telling us how many seats the Democrats are going to lose, Nate Silver had a pessimistic piece out today, and they were talking about it on NPR today. And I have got to say- I can not figure out why.

When the President was elected and this congress took office, we were losing over half a million jobs a month. Now, we are gaining jobs.

In the past year and a half, they’ve stabilized the banks, the economy, and the major car companies, they passed health care reform that adds thirty million people and cuts the deficit long term while getting rid of the worst abuses of the insurance companies, extended the solvency of Medicare for a decade, we’re drawing down troops in Iraq, we are making progress with green energy, there has not been one successful terrorist attack on American soil, we’ve just signed a nuclear arms reduction treaty and re-examined our use of nuclear weapons and we are making great progress on the global stage. Hell, the DOW is up over 3,000 since we got rid of the bums. Personally, we’re getting a road paved near me that was a disaster, and it is being paid for with stimulus money. We’re gonna put some people to work and have a nice paved road!

And we’re going to reward them by kicking a lot of them out of office. We’re a really stupid country."

No one has captured the essence of the tea baggers, and bagger icons like Palin and Tancredo, better than journalist Rich Benjamin. The baggers ARE important, but in the way the Klan was in the 1930s.

"Palin embodies a bizarre, sometimes alluring, combination of triumph and complaint that many Caucasian Tea Partiers identify with through and through.

Deciphering the racial codes on the movement's ubiquitous placards does not require a doctorate in semiotics. One popular sign shows the president's face and a caption: "Undocumented worker." Another combines Obama's image with this caption: "The Zoo Has an African Lion and the White House Has a Lyin' African!"
....
Denouncing government assistance and free school lunches at a town hall meeting in late January, South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer, a Tea Party supporter, said: "My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that."

At a Tea Party rally in Boone County, Kentucky (roughly 92 percent non-Hispanic white), Congressman Geoff Davis called cap-and-trade legislation "economic colonization of the hardworking states that produce the energy, the food, and the manufactured goods of the heartland, to take that and pay for social programs in the large coastal states." In Tea Party-speak, "heartland" often means "white" -- what Palin calls "the real America" -- while "coastal state" means the urbanized communities that teem with racial minorities, doubling as "gateway states" for Latino immigrants.

Catch this. The stock market is up 70% off its bottom and NOW conservative Larry Kudlow writes:

A V-Shaped Boom Is Coming

"Sometimes you have to take out your political lenses and look at the actual statistics to get a true picture of the health of the American economy. Right now, those statistics are saying a modest cyclical rebound following a very deep downturn could actually be turning into a full-fledged, V-shaped, recovery boom between now and year-end.

I'm aiming this thought especially at many of my conservative friends who seem to be trashing the improving economic outlook -- largely, it would appear, to discredit the Obama administration.

Don't do it folks. It's a mistake. The numbers are the numbers...Credibility is at issue here. Conservative credibility."

'broadwayjoe I resent your use of the word Teabagger not that you will most likely care! I am a veteran like many others whom has given sweat, tears and blood for our country and just because you and I don't agree politically is no reason to refer to me or anyone else as a Tea Bagger.'

that term was coined by teabaggers themselves-- that's where it came from. also, it's the wearing teabags on your hat and glasses stuff, it kinda perpetuates it.

broadwayjoe I resent your use of the word Teabagger not that you will most likely care! I am a veteran like many others whom has given sweat, tears and blood for our country and just because you and I don't agree politically is no reason to refer to me or anyone else as a Tea Bagger.

I know, Joe, I was a teenager during the civil rights era, it was so similar to what's going on now.

man, this woman is incoherent. amazing that the wapo pimps for her:

PALIN: We should create a competitive climate for investment in renewables and alternatives, none of this snake oil science stuff that is based on this global warming, Gore-gate stuff that came down where there was revelation that the scientists, some of these scientists were playing political games. I sued the Feds over this, I sued the Feds over this as Governor for some bogus listing on the ESA, just about got run out of town by the environmentalists.

But now we feel a little bit vindicated because we’re realizing through Gore-gate that there was some snake oil science involved over the data collection there … We invented the Internet, unless that was just another Gore-gate thing too."

Uh, huh? It's like she just shakes a bunch of words together in a cup and rolls them out randomly. Miswired synapsis, perhaps.

hey joe -- didja look at that mug shot? haley barbour looks more like Porky the Pig than anyone on earth.

this is funny:

'Today in his speech at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) complained that characterizations of the GOP as the “Party of No” are hurtful:

Speaker Pelosi likes to call the Republicans the ‘Party of No.’ Some of us, we don’t like the way that sounds. It hurts our feelings. … Speaker Newt Gingrich said yesterday the Republicans need to be the ‘Party of Yes,’ and he is right.

Yet in the very next breath, Jindal exclaimed that the GOP isn’t just the “party of No,” but instead “the party of Hell No when it comes to this health care!” The irony appeared to be lost on the crowd.

[Rs are missing the gene for irony]

At one point, Jindal told the audience, “we do have ideas; some of those ideas are even good ideas.”

Jindal isn’t the only conservative who is offering confused talking points. Speaking at a rally with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) earlier this week, Sarah Palin offered similar discombobulated thoughts. Palin called the “Party of No” label a “mistaken concept” right before saying there is nothing “wrong with being the Party of No”.

I was curious about where this ongoing Thune "buzz" narrative in this space is coming from. So I Goggled "Thune" and "buzz." Most of the relevant search results are GOP- or Thune-sponsored/supporting web sites. Pretty weak stuff.

"I am a student of history, and now is the time to remember our history as a nation. Remember that when President Franklin Roosevelt said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself,” other voices were on the radio, voices saying that what we really needed to fear was each other – voices preaching anti-Semitism and Nazi-style racial hatred.

Remember that when President John F. Kennedy stepped off the plane in Dallas on November 22, 1963, radio voices were calling for violence against the President of the United States. And the violence came—and took John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King and Medgar Evers and so many others.

But in the United States, we chose to turn away from the voices of hatred at those critical moments in the twentieth century. In much of Europe, racial hatred and political violence prevailed in response to the mass unemployment of the Great Depression. And in the end, we had to rescue those countries from fascism."

Does Brown really have all that much capital? He failed to stop health reform (no fault of his own, obviously) He also made some enemies voting for that jobs bill. And he just doesn't have a large profile. It's nice that he has that seat, but he doesn't seem to have much influence in how the party is run

No mention of Fix coworker Colbert King's excellent article today sharing some of the hate mail he recently got from the tea baggers???

Seems the baggers didn't like being called out as bigots. From Mr. King's hate mail:

"-- From: Dangraham. Subject: Colbert King=Malcolm X+frontal lobotomy. "Colbert: When the good Lord passed out the brains, you were standing behind the door. You are just plain stupid."

-- From: Jberger. Subject: Your article today was a disgrace. "It is a shame that liberal bigots like yourself continue to educate African-Americans as being victims and that the only way to improve themselves is to be like drug addicts addicted to the drug dealers such as Nancy Pelosi's big government spending. It just shows that being a writer for the Washington Post does not take much.""

I had Barbour as an early "real" player. Note that Bob McDonnell came and went, even though he's now governor with a real power. I see Brown, Perry and Rubio in the same model. Interesting today, but soon to be last week's story. I can't see Brown having a long lived career in Massachusetts. If he maintains the lockstep with the rest of his caucus, he's not representing his state. Maybe Perry and Rubio see national office as a possibility, but I have my doubts that a soft secessionist and a red meat Cuban American have national pull.

And as for the rest, those being the best and brightest the R's can put forward, is a good sign that cheyne-stokes breathing is soon to follow as this elephant heads to extinction, to the utter indifference of honest voters.

"10. Newt Gingrich: Gingrich is actively considering a run for president and has said that he will make up his mind by February 2011. While it's beyond debate that Gingrich is one of the brightest and best "ideas men" in the party, will Republican voters really rally behind a candidate who makes Camus references?"

But his ideas are crooked and rotten, and he still has his personal record to overcome. We don't need him back in a place to abuse his power, and even should the republicans be so foolish as to ignore his record, the rest of the country won't.

"Barbour dodged that potential bit of political quicksand by turning the question inward -- noting that his background and his "drawl" had gotten him used to being held to different standards."

Well, if the standards of low expectations and virtually no accountability is being held to a different standard, then yeah, him and his drawl and his southern accent do let him get buy with things we would not expect from a slow six year old. Same standard that let Georgie Shrub lie us into two wars, diplomatic pariah status, and economic disaster, all on account of he was cute mumbling and stumbling around on the national stage.